Outcomes in COVID-19 Patients With Acute Encephalopathy and Coma: An International Prospective Study

OBJECTIVE

To report the prevalence of acute encephalopathy and outcomes in patients with severe COVID-19, and to identify determinants of 90-day outcomes.

METHODS

Data from adults with severe COVID-19 and acute encephalopathy were prospectively collected for patients requiring intensive care unit management in 31 university or university-affiliated in six countries (France, USA, Colombia, Spain, Mexico, Brazil) between March and September of 2020. Acute encephalopathy was defined, as recently recommended, as subsyndromal delirium or delirium, or as a comatose state in case of severely decreased level of consciousness. Logistic multivariable regression was performed to identify factors associated with 90-day outcomes. A Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended score (GOS-E) of 1-4 was considered a poor outcome (indicating death, vegetative state, or severe disability).

RESULTS

Of 4060 patients admitted with COVID-19, 374 (9.2%) experienced acute encephalopathy at or prior to the ICU admission. A total of 199/345 (57.7%) patients had a poor outcome at 90-day follow-up as evaluated by the GOS-E (29 patients were lost to follow-up). On multivariable analysis, age >70 years (odds ratio [OR] 4.01, 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.25-7.15), presumed fatal comorbidity (3.98, 1.68-9.44), Glasgow Coma Scale score <9 before/at ICU admission ICU admission (2.20, 1.22-3.98), vasopressor/inotrope support during ICU stay (3.91, 1.97-7.76), renal replacement therapy during ICU stay (2.31, 1.21-4.50), and CNS ischemic or hemorrhagic complications as acute encephalopathy etiology (3.22, 1.41-7.82) were independently associated with higher odds of poor 90-day outcome. Status epilepticus, posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome, and reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome were associated with lower odds of poor 90-day outcome (OR 0.15, 95% CI 0.03-0.83).

CONCLUSIONS

and Relevance: In this observational study, we found a low prevalence of acute encephalopathy at ICU admission in COVID-19 patients. Over a half of patients with COVID-19 presenting with acute encephalopathy had poor outcomes as evaluated by GOS-E. Determinants of poor 90-day outcome were dominated by older age, comorbidities, degree of impairment of consciousness before/at ICU admission, association with other organ failures, and acute encephalopathy etiology.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

The study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT04320472.

Bench Validation of a Handcrafted Prototype Catheter for Intra-gastric Pressure Monitoring

BACKGROUND

Abdominal compartment syndrome is a sustained intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) >20 mm Hg associated with new organ dysfunction. In order to prevent its development and related complications, IAP monitoring should be performed in patients with risk factors. Although techniques for its monitoring have been developed, they are of high cost and not always available in low- and lower-middle-income countries. Therefore, we aim to develop and validate in a bench model a handcrafted catheter to be used as an alternative method to measure the intra-gastric pressure (IGP) as a surrogate of the IAP.

METHODS

We used an acrylic water container as a model of the abdomen and four handcrafted catheters made of a 16 Fr Levin tube with a globe finger tied with silk in the distal end, inflated with 1 cm of air. They were placed on the bottom of the container where the water pressure was directly measured as a gold standard. The agreement between the two measures was assessed with the Bland-Altman method.

RESULTS

We performed 120 simultaneous measures. The mean pressure difference was 0.218 (95% CI 0.074 to 0.363).

CONCLUSIONS

The handcrafted prototype catheter and the direct measure were highly correlated. The new catheter is a reliable and reproducible tool for pressure monitoring. However, before it can be used in the clinical setting for IAP monitoring, validation in human models in a real clinical setting needs to be performed.